Finance

If you teach your kids just one financial lesson, it should be this

Published

2 hours ago

May 17, 2026

If you teach your kids just one financial lesson, it should be this

jadamprostore/iStockPhoto / Getty Images

The power of saving and investing early cannot be overstated. It’s the most powerful financial action a young person can take.

Getting your children on this bandwagon early is the most valuable piece of financial advice you can give them. And you don’t need to be a financial whiz to do so.

Your teenager is not going to dedicate any thought whatsoever to saving for retirement. And they shouldn’t – that’s a bit ridiculous considering they haven’t even started their first full-time job.

Let’s get real: Young people have a lot of things they need to save up for, including college or university education, a first car, funds to move out of their parent’s house, or a down payment on a house or condo. These are important things to save for – it’s how we grow and advance in our lives.

But saving for long-term goals – whether you want to call it retirement or just “later in life” money – should always be there alongside these other objectives, because for most people, starting early is what makes it possible to save enough.

Charting Retirement: Your retirement savings target is probably lower than you think

Many of my clients tell me that they wish they had started saving earlier in life. Most of them had never been told about the incredible power of time and compounding.

I was lucky because my first job was with a bank, where I was encouraged to get customers to sign up for an automatic purchase plan into mutual funds. I had one, too, and also had a group RRSP and a stock purchase plan. My savings came off my paycheque. Thirty years later those savings are still growing.

Saving for retirement is the biggest, most overwhelming savings goal there is, but for many people, it is achievable with good saving habits. While it is impossible to come up with a definitive number for how much your children will need to save for retirement because there are so many factors that go into this calculation, it’s fair to say that the number is at least a $1.5-million – and this is a lowball estimate.

Let’s look at the example of $1.5-million – the concept is the same regardless of what the end goal is. There are many ways to get there. One way is to start small, putting away $50 a month from ages 16 to 22, then increasing it to $300 a month from ages 23 to 30, and $700 from age 31 to 64.

On the other hand, if you wait until age 40 to start saving, you will need to put away $2,200 a month until age 64. This means the late starter has to put away more than the early saver – much more.

The early saver only needs to put in about $320,000, while the late starter has to contribute $634,000, a difference of $314,000. That’s a lot of extra dollars you could be spending on something else.

(For our example, the $1.5-million figure is calculated assuming an average annual return of 7 per cent and that investment income is not taxed over this period.)

To make it tangible, have your teenager play around with an online savings growth calculator, or they can ask AI to do the math for them by giving specific instructions about different savings amounts at different ages. Seeing how money grows over long time periods pictured on a graph is truly inspiring.

As soon as your teenager hits the age of majority in your province – which is 18 or 19 – have them open a tax-free savings account (TFSA) and put their accumulated savings in there. When they start working full-time, a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) comes into play. And they should always take advantage of any employer savings plans that offer a matching component.

Starting early with saving isn’t just about the power of time and compounding. It has other benefits too. Saving feels good. Knowing you have money set aside creates a sense of being financially responsible. And that inspires more of that kind of feel-good behaviour. In my experience as a financial planner, people who are good savers also tend to be more in control of their spending, and have no outstanding credit card debt. It’s a positive reinforcement loop.

Be the person who tells your kids about the power of time and compounding. Thirty years from now, they’ll thank you.

Anita Bruinsma is a Toronto-based certified financial planner and a parent of two teenage boys. You can find her at Clarity Personal Finance.

Click to comment

Finance

Delphi Doubles Down on Ellington Financial Stake with $8.7 Million Buy | The Motley Fool

Published

14 hours ago

May 17, 2026

Press Room

Delphi Doubles Down on Ellington Financial Stake with .7 Million Buy | The Motley Fool

What happened

According to a May 13, 2026, SEC filing, Delphi Financial Group increased its stake in Ellington Financial (EFC 0.97%) by 686,639 shares during the first quarter. The estimated transaction value, calculated using the quarter’s average closing price, was $8.73 million. The value of the position rose by $6.89 million quarter over quarter, reflecting both additional shares and changes in the stock price.

What else to know

After the buy, Ellington Financial represents 7.53% of Delphi Financial Group’s 13F reportable AUM.
Top holdings after the filing:
- NYSEMKT: JAAA: $32.57 million (14.7% of AUM)
- NYSEMKT: ASHR: $19.27 million (8.7% of AUM)
- NYSEMKT: FXI: $17.10 million (7.7% of AUM)
- NYSE: TSM: $16.16 million (7.3% of AUM)
- NYSE: EFC: $16.69 million (7.5% of AUM)
As of May 15, 2026, Ellington Financial shares were priced at $13.33, up 0.38% over the past year, lagging the S&P 500 by 24.83 percentage points.

Company Overview

Metric	Value
Price (as of market close May 15, 2026)	$13.33
Market capitalization	$1.7 billion
Revenue (TTM)	$306.51 million
Net income (TTM)	$146.87 million

Company snapshot

Offers a diversified portfolio of mortgage-backed securities, residential and commercial mortgage loans, asset-backed securities, corporate debt and equity, and consumer loans.
Generates revenue from managing and acquiring a range of financial assets across mortgage, consumer, and corporate markets.
Serves a broad range of counterparties seeking exposure to mortgage-related and structured finance assets in the United States.

Ellington Financial is a real estate investment trust specializing in mortgage and consumer credit assets, focused on generating stable income through diversified investment strategies. The company leverages deep expertise in structured finance and credit markets to manage risk and capitalize on opportunities across various asset classes.

What this transaction means for investors

Delphi Financial Group recently acquired a significant additional stake in Ellington Financial. The company was already one of its largest holdings, but this move raises it from a No. 7 to No. 6 spot, indicating that it already thought highly of Ellington’s prospects and continues to do so.

One likely reason is Ellington’s record earnings in the first quarter of 2026. This indicates that business fundamentals are strong, and obviously, this is an important factor in any investor’s decision. It’s also been a consistent dividend payer, reliably issuing monthly dividends since 2010. This reliable cash flow is another reason Delphi might find Ellington attractive.

Earlier this year, Ellington issued common stock to redeem its Series A preferred shares, which carried interest costs above 9%. Replacing that expensive preferred equity with common shares reduced financing costs and benefited common shareholders, including Delphi.

For individual investors, Delphi’s increased stake implies a vote of confidence, which is reassuring. But all investments have inherent risk, and Ellington is no different. Financial entities like this company are affected by changes in interest rates, inflation, recessions, and other economic indicators. Investors need to consider these risks along with the positive signals before making an investment decision.

Pamela Kock has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Finance

Fort Worth Housing Finance Corp. looks for new revenue for affordable housing

Published

1 day ago

May 16, 2026

Press Room

Fort Worth Housing Finance Corp. looks for new revenue for affordable housing

by Scott Nishimura, Fort Worth Report
May 16, 2026

The Fort Worth Housing Finance Corp. continues to look for new ways to generate revenue.

Kacey Thomas, Fort Worth’s neighborhood services director, addressed concerns about the entity’s balance sheet at its April 28 meeting.

“While we’ve been able to invest in a number of housing developments over the past few years, part of the conundrum with that is that our fund balance has dipped down,” Thomas said, referring to the difference between revenue and expenditures.

The Housing Finance Corp. — created in 1979 to help the city acquire land and develop, finance and build safe affordable housing — conducted a benchmark study comparing it to other Texas cities and identified potential sources of additional revenue.

The city of Arlington was the smallest peer considered. The cities of Houston and Dallas are the only two cities that don’t have city staff involved in management of their corporations.

The study found that Houston’s housing finance corporation had the largest revenue stream, with $6.2 million. Dallas followed at $4.2 million and Austin at $3.8 million. The city of Fort Worth had $2.3 million in revenue.

Houston and Dallas both issue bonds to generate revenue. While Fort Worth does not issue bonds, it shares other characteristics with the two cities, including making money from interest on loans and investments.

“And then for the Fort Worth Housing Finance Corp., our biggest drive really has been project cash flow,” Thomas said.

The Housing Finance Corp. participated in several partnerships that have forgivable loans or loans that don’t carry interest. Such arrangements helped make projects viable, but they mean no revenue comes back.

The corporation recently shifted practices, Thomas said.

“We have had a few loans that we are charging interest and they are not forgivable,” Thomas said. “This does represent a consistent cash flow back to the HFC.” An example she provided was a $1.75 million loan at 4% would equate to roughly $70,000 per year in revenue.

For the Housing Finance Corp., another potential revenue stream is selling lots it owns. The organization owns 140 lots, with seven obligated for sale to a community land trust.

Between those obligated lots and potential sale of another lot to a healthcare provider, the Housing Finance Corp. will receive nearly $1 million in revenue, Thomas said. They would use this revenue to reinvest in other lots that it could sell later.

Other potential revenue streams would be via partnerships, fees and assignment of tax rebates instead of property owners. The intention this summer is to iron out details on lending money for development and partnerships, Thomas said.

Patrick Banis is a member of the Fort Worth Report’s Documenterscrew. If you believe anything in this account is inaccurate, please email us at news@fortworthreport.orgwith “Correction Request” in the subject line.

This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org/2026/05/16/fort-worth-housing-finance-corp-looks-for-new-revenue-for-affordable-housing/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report</a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”>

<img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https://fortworthreport.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=542712&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https://fortworthreport.org/2026/05/16/fort-worth-housing-finance-corp-looks-for-new-revenue-for-affordable-housing/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } </script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”//cdn.parsely.com/keys/fortworthreport.org/p.js”></script>

Finance

Crystal City ISD laying off 25% of staff amid financial crisis

Published

2 days ago

May 16, 2026

Press Room

Crystal City ISD laying off 25% of staff amid financial crisis

CRYSTAL CITY, Texas – Seventy-two employees of the Crystal City Independent School District are being laid off as part of the district’s plan to prevent “imminent financial collapse,” according to a letter posted by the district Thursday.

The district filed for financial exigency with the Texas Education Agency last month after leaders realized the severity of its financial issues.

Crystal City ISD interim superintendent Grill said the cuts were “emotional and unfortunate,” but said the situation could have been avoided “by not overspending and overemploying.”

Nearly 90% of the district’s operational budget is spent on employee payroll and benefits, the letter said, which is “far above” the recommended level of about 75%.

The district said it now faces “significant debt obligations” after spending $10.6 million in reserve funds, including:

A repayment of a $4.5 million loan with interest to cover employee payroll through August 31
A repayment of a $2.7 million loan taken from the district’s Interest and Sinking & bond account
Reduce payroll and benefit expenses by about $3.4 million
Pay off $1.1 million in unpaid debt
Unknown costs tied to deferred facility maintenance, transportation repairs.